Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 79 The New Year is Coming

Chapter 79 The New Year is Coming
Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions were not in the warm room or study, but went to the bedroom on the right.

This time, go to the right hand side of the entrance, first pass through the East Warm Pavilion, then the enclosure room, and after the enclosure room is Zhu Yuanzhang's bedroom.

At this time, Crown Prince Zhu Biao had already arrived after hearing the news.

He naturally knew that the passage over there had been opened, but he did not come over. Instead, he waited outside the Qianqing Palace.

Then came the news that Lao Zhu had disappeared.

Originally, he also wanted to come and help look for it, but Empress Ma remained calm and asked him to stay in Ming Dynasty and not leave.

Because if something unexpected happened to Zhu Yuanzhang and he disappeared without a trace, the Ming Dynasty would have to have Zhu Biao as the crown prince to ensure that the Ming Dynasty would not fall at any time.

Fortunately, Lao Zhu was found, so I rushed over to visit him as soon as possible.

"Father, how do you feel?"

Zhu Biao asked anxiously.

"It's okay, I was just a little panicked just now, but I've calmed down now."

Zhu Yuanzhang was lying on the dragon bed in his bedroom. In fact, he still had some aftereffects. His hands and feet felt a little weak, so he needed to rest for a while.

"Let the imperial physician take a look."

Queen Ma sat beside the bed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, looking very worried.

"It's fine."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Let the imperial kitchen stew a chicken with ginseng tonight to nourish you. You just had such a big operation, you need to rest up."

Zhu Biao looked at Queen Ma in surprise and asked, "Mother, you..."

"Ugh."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "There is a tumor in your mother's brain. The skull has been opened and taken out. I took a look and it is the size of a child's fist."

"Craniotomy? Modern medical technology has become so advanced."

Zhu Biao was surprised.

Although he had been to modern times, he basically just stayed at Zhu Yunfeng's house and had never even been to the town.

In contrast, Zhu Yuanzhang stayed in the bustling big city for a long time, learning news every day and seeing a lot of things.

Zhu Di also visited relatively prosperous prefecture-level cities and surfed the Internet intensively every day.

In terms of knowledge, Zhu Biao was much shallower than his father and brother.

"Yes, I remember being pushed into the operating room. The doctor put a ventilator on me and I passed out very quickly. When I woke up, the operation was over."

Empress Ma recalled what happened during the surgery that day and said, "It's amazing. I used to have headaches occasionally, but now I feel better than ever before. I don't have headaches these days, and I feel much more awake."

"The medical skills of later generations are truly amazing."

Zhu Biao was amazed.

At this time, Zhu Di, Zhu Yunfeng, Ji He and others also walked in.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Yunfeng and said, "Tell me, how have you been doing recently?"

"That must be for your Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "Hu Weiyong has been dealt with, and he also helped you deal with hundreds of corrupt officials. They are now in the stage of convicting people. Including their families and related personnel, it is estimated that hundreds of people will be killed and thousands of people will be exiled this time."

"The conviction stage? Is the evidence conclusive?"

"All the evidence was brought out in front of all the civil and military officials. Everyone was speechless, even Li Wenzhong was convinced."

"In that case, why not execute them now?"

"We still have to follow the necessary procedures and respect the law. You, my ancestor, just don't take the law and the rules you set seriously. You break the rules too much, which makes people indifferent to the rules. Haven't you heard the saying that the instigator is the culprit?"

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Yunfeng and thought to himself that this guy is here again. I heard from the fourth brother before that this guy makes a living by writing online novels. With his preaching style, it would be strange if anyone reads it.

"Father, this is my own record of what happened, the list of officials who were arrested and dismissed, as well as their evidence of crimes and their property."

Zhu Biao took out two official documents from his bosom and presented them with both hands, saying, "The other one is the newly drafted list of personnel for the six ministries and below. Please have a look, father."

Zhu Yuanzhang took the document, opened it and glanced at it. The more he read, the more satisfied he became.

From the Secretariat, the Censorate to the Six Ministries and below, there was almost a complete reshuffle.

Almost all the senior officials were caught in one fell swoop. Although some of Hu Weiyong's followers were left, they were at most two or three small cats on the periphery and could not cause any trouble.

The only thing that made him frown was the large number of Yuan officials added at the end. He asked, "What's up with these Yuan officials?"

"They have rich experience in governance and are a loose group of people. As long as they are not corrupt and do not endanger the country, it is not a bad thing to promote them."

Zhu Biao gave a reason.

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment. In fact, deep down he did not trust these former Yuan officials.

After all, he had witnessed too much cruelty of Yuan officials towards the people when he was a child.

Compared with the dignitaries of the former Yuan Dynasty court, these Han officials who were dependent on the former Yuan Dynasty court were the culprits for the cruel rule over the people.

But what Zhu Yunfeng and Zhu Biao said was indeed correct.

In the past, most of the corrupt officials of the Yuan Dynasty deserved to be executed during the chaos in the country, and many of the remaining ones were officials with relatively good reputations in the late Yuan Dynasty.

It was precisely because they treated the people well that they were able to be spared from death by the local people during the chaos and live to the present Ming Dynasty.

In addition, they had no roots, and unlike the officials from Huaixi and Zhejiang, they did not have backing to unite. They were a loose group in the court and could not pose an effective threat to the imperial power.

Therefore, it is indeed not a good thing to keep suppressing these Yuan officials who have rich governance experience.

Especially now that the court is short of practical officials.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Well, it was handled well, and basically meets the requirements of a father."

More than just good, he had spent a lot of effort in history to achieve this point, and it caused the wrath of heaven and the hatred of the people, even his own nephew could not stand it.

Not only has the situation not become so ugly now, there are almost no opponents in the court. Facing charges of corruption, abuse of power, and selling official positions, the plan has been completed reasonably and legally.

It can be said that the situation that Zhu Yunfeng described, which convinced everyone, has been completely achieved.

"Grandfather, I didn't brag to you, did I?"

Zhu Yunfeng stepped forward and said with a smile.

"Yes, it is indeed possible. We should plan carefully before taking action, indulge Hu Weiyong's erratic behavior, and then secretly collect evidence of his crimes, and then catch him in one fell swoop."

Zhu Yuanzhang showed a satisfied smile.

"Of course, if the old man hadn't pretended to be sick and let him down, he wouldn't have been caught so easily by us."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and did not forget to compliment Zhu Yuanzhang, giving him a strong emotional value.

really.

Old Zhu said with a smile: "Not bad, not bad."

"By the way, ancestor, there is something I need to tell you."

Seeing that he was in a good mood, Zhu Yunfeng immediately struck while the iron was hot.

"what's up?"

"No money."

"No money again?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

He had just given me 2000 taels of gold before. Was it spent so quickly?

Although I have seen before that tens of thousands of taels of gold were found during the crackdown on corrupt officials, if Zhu Yunfeng continues to spend the money, it will take several years to spend it all.

"Yes, the plate is too big, with agriculture, breeding and metal processing plants, the actual cost is far greater than the budget."

Zhu Yunfeng cried poorly, "Besides, you have spent a lot. Basically, all the money will be burned out in the first half of next year."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and said, "You have done a great job in dealing with Hu Weiyong this time, so you can take another 2000 taels."

"That doesn't need that much. I can just exchange it for silver."

Zhu Yunfeng said with a smile.

It is said that eating people is soft-mouthed and taking advantage of others is short-handed.

If you ask Lao Zhu for money directly, you will be psychologically inferior to him.

But exchanging modern silver for gold is different, it is a fair trade.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang could also make a profit from the price difference. The imperial treasury would have money, and the amount of silver on the market in the Ming Dynasty would increase dramatically, which would quickly prosper the Ming Dynasty.

of course.

The supply and demand relationship in the market is something you can learn in high school politics.

There is too much money and few goods on the market. Even if silver is used as a metal currency, it will still depreciate.

Therefore, to promote economic development, we still have to base it on objective facts. The Ming Dynasty needs to carry out an agricultural revolution like the Song Dynasty. Only when there is enough food will money be meaningful.

"Okay, what about copper?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked again, the Ming Dynasty was also in urgent need of copper coins.

"Copper is a bit difficult." Zhu Yunfeng looked embarrassed.

The price of copper is actually very cheap. According to online information, one ton costs 7.4 yuan, one catty costs 37 yuan, and one gram costs about 7 cents.

But the most troublesome thing about copper is that if you want to make money, you have to sell it in large quantities.

The small flat coins from the Hongwu period unearthed in later generations, which is a normal penny, weigh about 4 grams. 1000 small flat coins are equal to one tael of silver, which weighs 4 kilograms.

The official exchange rate in the early Ming Dynasty was one tael of gold equal to four taels of silver, which was equal to four strings of copper coins.

Based on the Ming Dynasty's 596 taels of gold being 37.25 grams, we can conclude that one tael of gold is 149 grams, which is equal to 16 grams of silver, and equal to kilograms of copper coins.

This means that if Zhu Yunfeng wants to get 2000 taels, or 74.5 kilograms of gold, he has to exchange it for 32 tons of copper.

In comparison, only 298 kilograms of silver are needed.

And the more you want, the bigger the gap becomes.

For example, one million taels of silver weighs only 37.5 tons.

But if it were copper of the same value, it would take 4000 tons.

Sending 4000 tons of silver to the Ming Dynasty would give the Ming Dynasty's treasury 1 million taels of silver, but copper coins are only worth 100 million taels of silver. The delivery volumes are completely on a different level.

There are also big differences in value.

298 kilograms of silver only costs 200 million, while 32 tons of copper costs 230 million.

of course.

If you really throw money into the Ming Dynasty, the proportion will definitely not be this, otherwise Zhu Yuanzhang will suffer a huge loss.

但即便是1比20，甚至1比30，拿500克黄金换15000克白银，那也是血赚。

After all, 500 grams of gold is worth 32 yuan, while 15000 grams of silver is only about 10 yuan.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang could take the silver to the market and exchange it for gold. He could make a lot of money in one go, and the national treasury would never be in deficit.

Therefore, whether in terms of volume or profit, silver is far stronger than brass, and the two are completely incomparable.

But Zhu Yuanzhang did not understand the reason and asked, "Why?"

Zhu Yunfeng explained the reasoning, and then said, "In fact, there is no need to be obsessed with copper coins. Although brass is much more helpful to the development of small private economies than silver, because private transactions are small, brass is more needed. But the treasury has a large amount of silver, and we can hire people to mine copper in large quantities and be self-sufficient. If we rely on modern imported copper, not only will the amount be too large and there will be risks of exposure, but it is also not as convenient as silver in the court's use of money."

"Okay, then it's up to you."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. The most urgent task now was to greatly increase grain production and silver imports. Only in this way could the Ming Dynasty's economy become rapidly strong.

"The first half of next year will be the most important time. Both sides will develop agriculture. I plan to open a silver processing factory in modern times to make Hongwu silver coins and send them to Ming Dynasty. By then, my ancestors will have to prepare a large amount of gold for me."

"Row."

"That's it for now, we'll go back now, just come over if you need anything."

Zhu Yunfeng greeted him.

I have finished my work for my ancestors and now I have to go back to develop my own company.

"Father, I'll go too."

Zhu Di hurried forward and said.

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

The three of them then walked out of the bedroom arm in arm, laughing and joking.

Looking at their backs as they left, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was lying on the bed, was filled with satisfaction. He never expected that his descendants in the future would actually accomplish things so beautifully.

"Father, Yunfeng is very efficient. He sent people to incite the managers of the corrupt officials' mansions to rebel, and thus collected a lot of evidence of their crimes."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "He also thought that the action should be taken during the morning court session. Everyone saw the evidence, and the historians were watching and recording it one by one. It can be said that the evidence is as solid as a mountain, which silenced the people."

"Yunfeng is a really good kid. His family isn't around, and the New Year is coming soon. Why not ask him to come over and celebrate the New Year together?"

Queen Ma just went out and asked someone to bring over a cup of hot sugar water. She also mixed some of the big bag of milk powder that Zhu Yunfeng had given them, made it into hot milk and handed it to Zhu Yunfeng to replenish his energy.

"Well, I don't know how his parents are doing. If his parents don't come back, just let him come over."

Zhu Yuanzhang took the milk and took a sip.

Zhu Biao said, "Father, let Yunfeng come to help me. Many of the things he has proposed these days are refreshing to me. If I can be with him more often, the Ming Dynasty will definitely become stronger."

"Well, Biao'er, you have indeed grown up a lot during this period of time, and you can handle state affairs with ease, but remember, the Ming Dynasty will belong to you from now on, not Yunfeng."

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Yunfeng has his own things to do. It's ok for him to help you take care of things a little bit, but if you only want to rely on others, how can you be the emperor of Ming Dynasty in the future? Do you have to rely on others for everything?"

"Forehead"

Zhu Biao was choked for a moment and didn't know how to answer.

What he meant was that he hoped Zhu Yunfeng would stay in Ming Dynasty longer and help him formulate good policies for the future.

But obviously my father didn't want that.

Besides, my father is right.

Zhu Yunfeng's industry is in the modern world, and he himself doesn't like staying in the Ming Dynasty. If he wants to be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the future, he has to rely on himself.

Forget it.

Anyway, it's only a stone tablet away from the modern world, so coming and going is no different from visiting a neighbor's house. If you have any problems in the future, you can just go to him directly. There's no need for him to stay in Daming all the time.

Over there, Zhu Yunfeng, Zhu Di and Ji He returned to the modern era. It was almost afternoon. The sky was gray and the sound of fireworks could be faintly heard in the town in the distance.

It was not until this time that Zhu Yunfeng realized that the Chinese New Year was approaching.

"Playing on the computer."

Zhu Di took two steps at a time and rushed up the stairs first.

Ji He touched his stomach and said, "I'm hungry. I'll go get something to eat."

"Just three bowls of noodles."

Zhu Yunfeng said this and went upstairs.

Charge your phone first.

My phone has become a brick due to lack of battery.

Although he got a lot of solar charging panels and placed them in Daming, he didn't play with his mobile phone much because there was no internet. He just strolled around the streets every day, hanging out outside for the whole day, and lost several pounds.

Soon, the phone turned on.

Well.
A series of WeChat and text messages came.

When he clicked on it, he found that the WeChat was actually the company group chat information. Zou Ting had added seven or eight groups for him, and there were more than ten friend requests.

Before he went to Daming, he hired an accountant and a cashier, and the company's finances were managed by Ji He and Zou Ting.

Zou Ting is mainly responsible for the management.

I have to say, she deserves the 30,000 yuan salary every month.

At present, the Finance Department, Marketing Department, Management Department, Technology Department, Production Department and Logistics Department have all been established.

The preliminary research work has been completed and construction will officially start at the beginning of next year.

But unfortunately, apart from work-related messages, almost no one contacts me on WeChat.

Look at the text message again.

Ok.

Mobile is still very caring. I send him one or two messages almost every day to check on him and see if he is still alive.

Zhu Yunfeng has also gotten used to it. His parents seldom contact him, and he also seldom contacts them. But if he calls to ask for money, they will call him no matter how difficult it is.

This can also be considered a kind of silent love.

I turned on the computer first and charged the phone for a while. In fast charging mode, it charged 40% in more than ten minutes.

Zhu Yunfeng picked up his cell phone, walked to the balcony and called his father.

It took a while for the call to be connected.

"Hey, Dad."

"I'm fine, the company is going well."

"Well, are you coming back for the New Year this year?"

"Not coming back."

"Ok."

"It's nothing, and I don't need any money. I'll give you money to pay off your debt later, and you can remarry mom."

"Hahaha, okay, I'll hang up first."

Zhu Yunfeng hung up the phone.